Mika My Violist

Ever since Mika was pretty small, I had a feeling she was a viola player. She is always thinking outside the box and doing things in her own unique way. It didn't seem appropriate to give her a little instrument that mainly plays the melody in treble clef, or a larger instrument that likes to lay down a bass line in bass clef. This middle child was just begging to play in alto clef and the viola seemed perfect for her.

She started her journey with the viola in May 2019, at the end of 2nd grade. I didn't have a viola small enough for her on hand, so I turned Ramona's old half size violin into a a temporary viola by taking off the E string, moving the remaining strings over, and adding a C string to the bottom. (Ramona had upgraded to a nicer 3/4 size violin by then). She picked it up fairly quickly, and despite starting on the piano with treble and bass clef, she settled into alto clef quite nicely.

My favorite Mother's Day gift that year was hearing Ramona and Mika playing their instruments together and watching them pluck the strings in their pajamas.

Mika took her identity as a violist very seriously.

When the opportunity came for her to "Teach the Teacher" at school, she knew she wanted to teach Mrs. Haselby how to play the viola. She made a lesson plan, and that day we delivered both her little makeshift viola and my 15.5 inch viola to the school so she could make it happen.

Mrs. Haselby snapped this darling photo and sent it to me after their lesson:

Being a viola player isn't easy. It's tough playing the middle voice, and the viola jokes can be brutal. But if anyone can handle it, Mika can!